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Mojave Road - History and Adventure thru the Mojave Desert

Hundreds of years of history, a trail that remains much the same today as it did 150 years ago when Kit Carson, Jedediah Smith and others crossed the Mojave Desert to California. Some looked for new sources of beavers for their prized pelts, some went to the gold rush areas and others were looking for a new life. We were looking for another great weekend of camaraderie and another great trail ride for the group. We got both !

Many of us went to Bullhead City Oct 5th and stayed at the AVI Casino Hotel Friday night, some camped at the trail head, others did their own thing but at 8am we were all at the meeting place ready to tackle the Mojave Road. �The Road�, as those who are veterans to it, is 130 miles of desert from the Colorado River at Bullhead City, AZ to where we exited at Afton Canyon recreation area just 30 miles east of Barstow, CA. The trail itself bi-sects the Mojave Preserve which is managed by the National Park Service.

We met two new members of our group, both somewhat celebrities in their own right. Jim Brightly, a veteran of this trail and our trip leader who is the technical editor for a national RV publication and a writer and photographer for several national off-road magazines. Plus Chef Mark, the author of Jeep Grill Adventures cookbook www.jeepgrilladventures.com, the food editor at www.4X4wire.com and an instructor (or would that be teacher, professor, chef) at an institute of higher learning in Colorado.

As we traveled �the road�, our veteran trail guide, Jim Brightly, gave us lots of information along the way about the history of the trail. Jim also made sure that we had plenty of stops at historic sites and for photo ops too.

Our 1st lengthy stop along the way was at the ruins of the George Irwin Ranch where we waited for our 1st �casualty� of the trip, a TJ with a tire hissing air and just asking for the spare. At this site there are petroglyphs on the boulders below, the remains of what looked to be a cattle corral, and the stone foundations of a house or building. We also found some very old handmade pipe that was used to carry water from a spring to a cistern a hundred or so yards away.

Our next stop, just about a mile away was Fort Piute. The Fort was built in 1867 by Company D of the US 9th Infantry. It was only manned full time for less than 2 years when the post office stopped sending mail along the Mojave Road and the soldier escorts were no longer required. Some more petroglyphs, the remains of a stone foundation, some old wood fencing which was probably more modern. This was also our lunch stop.After lunch we continued on the road to Rock Spring, well some spring anyway no matter what it was called. Some more �ruins� from perhaps the mid to late 1800s or perhaps the early 1900s and a rustic stone �monument� of sorts that someone stole the plaque that might have been there at one time. After some photo opportunities we got back on the road again.

Jim continued to radio back different bits of trivia as we drove along. The call came out that we had another tire that went flat. Seems that the cactus needles here will pierce a tire, I know, it got two of mine over the weekend. So we held up and people fanned out for some �privacy� to take care of business while we waited for the tire change.

As we continue driving, we started coming up on what appeared to be some civilization. There was the modern looking white cone of a building we were told was used in air traffic control, something about transponders or something like that, whatever it was it was worth taking a picture of. After we passed that all the alarms and bells started going off in my Grand Cherokee. My alternator wasn�t charging, the A/C was getting warm, the engine was getting hot��dang I threw a fan belt��I radioed my problem and someone said that they just passed one in the road and the next person stopped to pick it up. I should be so lucky. When I popped the hood it was obvious I threw a fan belt, must have broken��.the overflow tank for the radiator was puking. Here comes my old belt, it was complete, no damage, no tears, no rips. Now we look into the engine again, the power steering pump was at an angle like it was on a hinge and almost up against the water pump. It didn�t take much of a tug on the pulley for it to shatter in the middle as it was plastic. This isn�t looking good. We thought that a bolt worked its way out and the other bolt that held the pump bent (Found out later that the actual white metal bracket that bolts to the block had cracked in three places). We also found that the idler pulley was shot, the bearings were gone.

Well the mechanically inclined people decided that if we had a smaller belt we could bypass the PS and idler pulley, still have full contact on the AC and water pump and a good amount of rubber on the alternator and the auto tension pulley would keep everything tight. Everyone was bringing spare belts, all too big. We tried rigging and decided we would send one Jeep to town to get several belts and other parts and we would tow it to the campground and repair it that night or the next morning.

So we unhooked my M101 trailer and AZWillys towed that with his XJ. AZJeep4me towed me with a strap to the campsite 20 miles away and Russ took off with Carol to the nearest town along with the trusty credit card. We were almost at the dirt superhighway which I think is called Kelso road. A very nice stretch of wide, hard dirt road with some paving that lead to I-15 to the north and to I-40 to the south. We crossed the road and headed west on the Mojave Road while we waved to the parts runners who turned south towards I-15.

Well the road wasn�t too bad, not the best road to have a big Jeep behind your TJ just 15 feet away. Some of the dips, bumps and holes were a little unnerving at times and the setting sun was brutal to the eyes. But the TJ towed me easily and we made it to our camping area, a nice sandy spot with tall hills and rocks to protect us from the winds from just about every direction but the north��and the winds that night were 45mph from the north.

As some people fought the wind setting up their tents, I set up the kitchen for the chuckwagon dinner of sweet Italian sausage subs with caramelized onions and green peppers, hot dogs, perogies, fresh cole slaw and other good stuff. My cooking help showed up and dinner got started before dark. Chef Mark was over at his campsite preparing a gourmet dinner of Ragin' Cajun Pasta with a mushroom parmesan sauce and I don't know what other delicacies. Chef Mark is going to cook up some of his delights for the group on our Moab trip in May 2008!

The winds were picking up and it was unseasonably cool. We built the campfire pretty good and people were crowded around it for warmth. The dinner was excellent according to some and it was time for marshmallow and s'mores. George and Diane pulled their TJ up to the campfire and opened up the �saloon�, for warmth and medicinal purposes I assume. The Canadian Mist was smooth and warmed the tonsils I am told.

Well its 9:30. You can tell we are a bunch of older folks, people are ready to call it a day. My g/f and Russ aren�t back yet from the parts run and I am getting concerned that they got lost in the dark. Every few minutes you can hear several of us on the CB calling for them. Russ didn�t have a Ham radio (although he is taking the course and going to get his license in the next few months and Carol is going to do the same now after this trip) and we had no cell phone service. Mike B said he was going to drive up to �the point� which overlooks the valley they would be coming from and see if he had cell service there or could get them on the CB.

Ten PM, I hear some chatter on the CB, sounds like them, I cant get thru and then silence. 10:30 I see two sets of headlights coming towards camp.

Everyone's back and it was a 250 mile round trip and $300 at two different parts stores total ! I had dinner still warming and they sat down to eat as I put more wood on the fire. Mike helped Russ with his tent and Carol and I fought the wind and got ours up. After a few more minutes at the camp fire, we all called it a night and headed for the tents and what we hoped was warm sleeping bags.

Ok, its early, the tent is whipping back and forth, pushing up and down. 6am and its not only cold but it seems windier. I get dressed and go outside, I can see a tent to my left that was collapsed and the occupants were in the TJs front seats, sleeping. Everything is pretty quiet, no one seems to be up yet. I fire up the Coleman coffee makers and start packing things up. Tim came over around 7 and we looked at the parts, and decided that the only thing we could really do is put a belt on so 5 min later, the Jeep was up and running��.sans power steering.

8am, everyone is now packed up and ready to go��.uh, except George and Diane. But they were getting ready and so we had an impromptu drivers meeting, Jim gave us some options for the day and we made final plans for our assault on the last half of the Mojave Road.

The Sunday drive had us passing thru an area that someone said reminded them of the Devils Highway trip. There were plenty of additional photo opportunities.

Some of the sights on Sunday was a �ghost town� that looked like it could have been a western movie set complete with hotel. Stone ruins of old ranches, �the mail box�, the lava fields and tubes, the drive down to the dry soda lake which looked full of water due to a mirage and or course our water crossing to name a few.

The mail box was cool. Here was this makeshift steel flag pole complete with a tattered American flag and a large mailbox of sort. Inside people had put water bottles, freeze dried shrimp, power bars and there was a booklet to sign, kinda like the guest book at a wedding. And there were stickers galore all over the post and the mailbox of 4x4 clubs and other stuff. Russ got up tall and placed a sticker near the top of the flag pole and Mark put one of his Jeep Grill Adventure stickers on the bottom of the mailbox. We have the pictures guys !

Steve V, our resident �geo-cacher� said there were some lave tubes about 6 miles off the trail and there was a geo cache there. Ok, lave tubes and lave fields are cool and we had time so off we went. The road thru the lava fields was cool to an old rockhound like me. We counted at least 10 volcanic cinder cones circled around us. The group went to the �dead end� and found the lava tubes, two of them were connected and a ladder was in one of them so you could go down. Ok, not for the claustrophobic but I saw the pictures taken in them and they were awesome !

Back on the trail and George is running out of gas��.what???? Ok plenty of us had gas but since we were near a dirt road that went 10 miles north to Baker, CA, George took off for a gas station while we broke for lunch. An eternity later, George is back, a full tank of gas and a bag of Arbys cheddar and beef sandwiches ! Ok, George, next time you get gas out of one of my spare 5 gal cans !

We hit the road again, heading up and then at where ever the top was we could see way off in the distance, maybe 10 miles or so, the dreaded and infamous dry soda lake. Legend has it that the dry lake has claimed a number of vehicles in the past including a tank in Patton�s tank corps training for WWII ! While the surface looks dry and hard, it is only a skin, sometimes thin and sometimes thick. We started our trip down to the valley and the lake. What beautiful scenery, the lake looked full of water, to the left was the western edge of the �singing sand dunes� to the right was desert and rocky hills whose sides were covered sometimes by sand dunes whipped up by the blowing winds.

We are now at the edge of the lake, it certainly looks dry from here but the distance is still the mirage of water. Jim tells us that the skin is not that thick as they had rains the week before so get your vehicles up to speed and do not slow down or stop until we get to the rock pile, and whatever you do, do not drive off the narrow path. Don�t drive off the path, I wonder why, it looks like a winter snowscape out there, absolutely beautiful ! The 1st mile or so was dusty, as bad as the moondust area on the Devils Highway, Lance was in his glory and I thought I heard him yell out a �yee haw� about 100yards into the thick and heavy dust.

Opps the lack of power steering is a pain and I got off the path by no more than a foot and I am in mud and throwing heavy mud everywhere. Ok the crust off of the path is skin thick and its soft and muddy below. We see many areas where people got off the trail, the tire ruts are a foot or more deep, you can see where under bodies drug as they were winched or towed out. We get to the rock pile which is maybe half way across. As we look back from where we came, I am snapping pictures of landscapes and Jeeps as they head our way. One of my favorites is of two TJs driving across the trail with the mountains in the background (and I used it as the background for this page also). It was said by some that it looks like an expedition coming across the Alaskan Tundra.

Back to the rock pile. The rock pile is a tradition. Everyone who travels the Mojave road is supposed to place a rock on the rock pile for�.good luck perhaps. There is a plaque imbedded in the top and you will have to look at the pictures of this trip to see what it says. To the west there looks to be a resort or something. We are told it used to be an asylum and now the rumor is that it is a CIA training facility�Ok, looks like another picture op to me. Photo opportunities over, we hit the trail again keeping up a steady speed of 25 to 30 mph across the rest of the dry lake bed. We come to a soft sandy area and are reminded again to keep on the trail to avoid getting stuck. Many times the actual markings for the trail and the trail itself get lost in the sand that blows and accumulates.

As we continue thru the sand dune area, there are lots of roads that shoot off to the right and left, it would be easy to get lost if you were not paying attention, if the Jeep in front of you didn�t wait at a turn or if you didn�t keep up with the group for whatever reason. Well all of those reasons happened and we ended up in at least two groups on different trails. Thanks to Jim and his knowledge of the area the lost didn�t stay lost for long and our Ham radios helped out good when the CBs didn�t make the trip as they say.

The we went from soft sand to rocky washes and wide dry river beds and back again. Soon we entered Afton canyon area. We crossed some little puddles, under some train brides and then thru a big puddle, one that I am told was half way up my headlights at one point��am waiting to see the pictures. Within a mile we were at the Afton canyon campground, one with trash cans and real concrete outhouses !

Everyone aired up, at least half of the group stayed the night to go wheeling in the Calico Canyon area the next day, some of us headed back to Phoenix and most of agreed to come back in a year and run this trail in reverse. By the way the 400 miles back to Phoenix without power steering wasn't that bad and we actually made it home by 2:30am !

All in all, another GREAT Expedition��.another in what looks to be a future of many more !

p.s. this trip will be an article in an upcoming issue of one of the major off-road magazines !

Vist the Photo Gallery for plenty of pictures of this and other Expeditions

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